


rain clouds are gathering in numbers

by flicker_album



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cuddles, Established Relationship, M/M, Warm bath, harry has a bad day, i mention harry's job but not in description, louis cheers him up, pure fluff, so basically he works in an office with lots of paperwork and meetings, very soft and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 06:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17017509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flicker_album/pseuds/flicker_album
Summary: Harry has a bad day at work. Louis cheers him up.featuring: cuddles, a warm bath, & lots of love





	rain clouds are gathering in numbers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Larrymama15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larrymama15/gifts).



> Hiii! I wrote this little ficlet for the lovely [Amanda](http://alarrylarrie.tumblr.com/). I'm sending her lots of love and strength right now! 
> 
> I did not have this beta'd since it's so short so any mistakes are my own.
> 
> Title from Just My Luck by McFly

Harry walks into the flat he shares with his boyfriend of five years. He doesn’t mean for the door to slam, but it does. As he lets out a small sigh he hears said boyfriend calling out for him. “Hi, love!” Louis’ voice is cheerful and it’s already helping with Harry’s grumpy mood.

He doesn’t say anything back to Louis. He knows once he opens his mouth the summary of his day is going to pour out and he’s not sure he’s ready to unload it all on Louis yet. Silently he takes off his hat and sets it on the small table in their hallway. He wipes his palms on his trousers in an effort to dry them from the rain he just walked through. It was mostly useless as his clothes were damp with water anyway. As he starts taking off his coat, the zipper gets stuck a little more than halfway down. It’s the icing on his Very Bad Day cake.

When Louis wanders into the hallway, Harry is using both hands to try to force the zipper to move, either up or down. He isn’t picky right now. He doesn’t notice Louis at first until he speaks up. His voice sounds soft, sweet, and a little amused over the frustrated grunts Harry is making. “Having some trouble?” 

Harry drops his hands to his sides and turns helplessly towards Louis. “Yes.” It comes out a little more whiny than he intends but at this point he figures Louis has realizes he is in a bad mood and will eventually open up about what caused it.

Louis takes the bottom of Harry’s coat into his hands and bends down a little to examine the problem. “Aha.” He deftly pulls a bit of fabric to the side that managed to get stuck in the teeth and unzips the coat with no problem. “There you go, love.” 

“Wanna talk about it?” Yeah, Louis has definitely noticed Harry’s mood if he’s jumping right into asking what’s wrong. He shrugs his coat off quickly and hangs it up on the coat rack before answering Louis’ question.

“Are you sure you wanna hear about it?” Harry asks. Louis seems willing to listen to him vent but he always wants to make sure, just in case.

Louis nods and grabs Harry’s hand in his own. “Let’s go cuddle up on the couch first though.” Harry follows with no problem. His boyfriend is great at cheering him up even with small gestures.

As soon as they plop down on the couch and get situated in a loving cuddle, Harry lets the story of his day tumble out of his mouth. “It started this morning. Well, technically my morning was going just fine until I managed to be late to work even though I left home five minutes earlier than I normally do. My boss, who is never there when I get there, just so happened to be in early today and noticed that I was running late. During the morning meeting with our department he called me out on it and talked about ‘time management’ for over ten minutes. Once I was finally able to start working on my  _ actual work _ I realized I was given almost double what my coworkers were given, whether it was intentional or not. I decided to bust my arse to get it done today to show him I have great time management." 

He pauses only to catch his breath then continues. "I noticed at half two I hadn’t eaten my lunch yet but, just my luck, after I warmed it up in the microwave I dropped it all over the floor in the break room. I had only brought the leftover chicken noodle soup I made last night so I’ve not eaten since breakfast. The rest of my afternoon was spent trying to finish what I had started in the morning but I only managed to get about 75% of it done. And to top it off, it started pouring down rain as I was walking home.” 

His voice gives off a shaky breath as he finishes up the story of his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. In retrospect, he realizes it isn’t as bad as he thinks and he’s (mostly) being dramatic. Just venting to Louis already has him feeling better, as do the cuddles he’s been receiving. 

Louis lets him just snuggle up further into his side before diving into what Harry told him about his day. “It does sound like it was a frustrating day for you, love. I’m sorry that it happened. Your boss really had no right to complain about you being late today when you haven’t been late in over two months.” He must be remembering the time it last happened. Their power went out in the middle of the night and Harry’s alarm never went off. “The way he handled it sounds unprofessional, which is not your fault at all.”

“I know, he can be such an arse sometimes.” That gets a small chuckle from Louis.

“That he can. Let’s look on a positive side. You said got 75% of your work done today which means tomorrow you only have 25% more to go and you won’t have to rush to get it done.” Harry hadn’t even thought of that. He was too busy panicking about how much he needed to still do. 

“You’re right, Lou. I didn’t even think of that.” His arms give Louis’ waist a squeeze where they’re wrapped around him. Louis plants a quick kiss in Harry’s hair in return.

“Now, you did say you haven’t eaten since breakfast and that makes me sad. So why don’t you go change your clothes into something comfortable and less wet and meet me in the kitchen? I had already started dinner once you got home.”

“Thank you, babe. That sounds perfect.” They both get up off of the sofa and go their separate ways. As Harry changes his clothes he reflects on his day some more, taking into consideration Louis words. It definitely was a challenging day for him but he knows tomorrow is always a new day.

 

* * *

 

Once they’re finished with their dinner Louis cleans up the table and the kitchen. Harry attempts to help but Louis waves him off to the direction of the living room, telling him to go rest on the sofa. Harry wants to protest but he knows Louis is doting on him and doing his best to cheer him up. 

Harry has made it through almost a whole episode of Great British Bake Off when Louis returns to the sofa with him. He’s changed his own clothes into something more comfortable by now. 

“Okay love,” Louis says softly to Harry. “One more thing to help cheer you up.” He extends his hand out to Harry, gently helping him to his feet, and guides him to their loo.

Harry stops short when he gets to the doorway. There are lit candles all around. Four or five large ones are on the counter top while a few smaller ones are on the edge of the bathtub. The bath itself is filled almost to the top, bubbles formed on the surface, leaving enough space for him to get in it without having the water overflow onto the floor. He can hear soft piano music coming from the Bluetooth speaker they leave on the shelf. 

He turns to Louis in awe. The latter looks a bit bashful but tells Harry, “You had a rough day, love. I’m doing whatever I can to help you salvage what’s left of it and turn it into something better.” He wraps his arms around Harry and leaves a small kiss on his cheek. “I’ll leave you to it.” 

 

* * *

 

Harry isn’t sure how long he soaks in the bath but it feels wonderful. He lets his emotions and tension from the day seep out in the warm water and go down the drain. Reluctantly he turns the light on and blows out the candles when he gets out, only so he doesn’t accidentally light his towel on fire. 

He’s dressed in his comfiest pajamas when he walks back into their bedroom. Louis is sitting up in bed, reading a book, only the bedside lamp is turned on. He gives Harry a warm, loving smile when he sees he’s done with his bath.

“Feeling any better, babe?” Louis asks, placing a bookmark in his book and setting it on the nightstand. 

Harry crawls into bed and covers up with the duvet before he answers. “I’m feeling loads better, thanks to you. You let me vent to you about my day, you cooked me dinner, and ran me the most relaxing bath I’ve had in awhile.” He shuffles up under Louis’ arm and lays his head on his chest, hearing the  _ thump thump _ of his heartbeat. It only relaxes him even more. “Just… thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“Love, I’m here to help you when you’re feeling a little grumpy. Everyone has bad days, but you have to remember to just hold on. Tomorrow is a new day.” Louis’ words are almost an echo of what Harry was thinking earlier. Once more, he kisses Harry on the cheek and turns off the light.

Harry sighs, feeling fully relaxed. His grumpy mood is long forgotten. Instead it’s replaced by a feeling of warmth and love from his boyfriend. He whispers out, “I love you,” to Louis before he closes his eyes. He hears Louis whisper out his own reply as he drifts to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! [Here](http://flicker-album.tumblr.com/post/181169403395/rain-clouds-are-gathering-in-numbers-by) is a rebloggable Tumblr post.


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